Description of the business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Description of the business

1. Description of the business

bluebird bio, Inc. (the “Company” or “bluebird”) was incorporated in Delaware on April 16, 1992, and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Company researches, develops, manufactures and plans to commercialize gene therapies for the treatment of severe genetic diseases and cancer. Since its inception, the Company has devoted substantially all of its resources to its research and development efforts relating to its product candidates, including activities to manufacture product candidates, conduct clinical studies of its product candidates, perform preclinical research to identify new product candidates and provide general and administrative support for these operations.

The Company’s clinical programs in severe genetic diseases include its LentiGlobin^® product candidate to treat transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia, or TDT, and to treat severe sickle cell disease, or severe SCD, and its Lenti-D^TM product candidate to treat cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, or CALD, a rare hereditary neurological disorder. The Company’s programs in oncology are built upon its leadership in lentiviral gene delivery and T cell engineering, with a focus on developing novel T cell-based immunotherapies, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) T cell therapies. bb2121 and bb21217, which are product candidates in oncology under the Company’s collaboration arrangement with Celgene Corporation (“Celgene”), are CAR T cell product candidates for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Refer to Note 8, “Collaboration revenue” for further discussion of the Company’s collaboration with Celgene.

As of March 31, 2018, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $1.57 billion. Although the Company has incurred recurring losses and expects to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, the Company expects that its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund current operations for at least the next twelve months.